The
perennial Frank Capra Christmas favorite It's
a Wonderful Life opened in Detroit
at 5 p.m. Tuesday, December 31, 1946 at the Palms. It had earlier had
its world première in New York City on December 21, 1946.

"The
only regrettable thing about 'It's a Wonderful Life' is that it did not
open Christmas Eve instead of New Year's Eve at the Palms-State," wrote
Florence Allen in the Detroit Free Press on January 1, 1947. "Frank
Capra's romantic comedy-drama is almost a modern version of Dickens' 'A
Christmas Carol,' with virtue, in the form of James Stewart, triumphing
over evil, in the form of Lionel Barrymore, in a happy Christmas Eve ending."

"There's
good news from Hollywood in the return of Frank Capra and James Stewart
to the movie-making front," wrote Al Weitschat in The Detroit News
on January 1, 1947. "In their first endeavor since their return from service,
the director and the star bestow their talents on a picture certain of
box office success because it is one of the most enjoyable of the year."

In
the neighborhoods, the Redford hosted a double bill of Black
Beauty and The
Stranger (Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young). At
the RKO Uptown, a Gala New Year's Eve Jamboree from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. included
The
Big Sleep (Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall), A
Cock-Eyed Miracle (Keenan Wynn, Frank Morgan), a cartoon, and
an organ sing.

Ann
Arbor audiences were treated to the opening of It's
a Wonderful Life at the State on Sunday, March 9, 1947, following
a run of the comedy Vacation
in Reno (Jack Haley, Anne Jeffreys).

"James
Stewart returns to the screen and with Donna Reed finds 'It's a Wonderful
Life' growing up in a small town, the locale for this romantic comedy
- At the State," read a photo caption in the "Attractions in Ann Arbor
Theaters Next Week" section of The Ann Arbor News of March 8, 1947.

Also
playing in Ann Arbor on March 9 was the MGM all-star musical Till
the Clouds Roll By at the Michigan, starring Van Johnson, Judy
Garland, Frank Sinatra, June Allyson, and others. The Wuerth was screening
The
Return of Monte Cristo (Louis Hayward, Barbara Britton). The Whitney
was showing Lighthouse
(Don Castle, June Lang, John Litel).

Click
here to see a PDF of newspaper
images relating to the opening of It's
a Wonderful Life.